The Skype team at Microsoft has been hard at work on a complete rewrite of their iPhone app, and it’s arriving in the App Store next week.

Version 5.0 of Skype for iPhone looks very similar in some ways to the existing Windows Phone and Android Skype clients, but its developers promise that they have built it to “fit iOS best.”

Skype has gotten convoluted over the years while apps like Snapchat and WhatsApp have prioritized on offering simple, focused messaging experiences. The current version of Skype is anything but simple, and this upcoming update is hoping to fix that problem.

There are new gestures to switch between conversations, and a new notification system shows incoming messages without taking you out of the window you’re already in. Like Snapchat, there’s a favorites list of the contacts you talk to most frequently.

A big focus has been placed on making the app faster, and “you’ll notice the effort we’ve put into this overhaul as soon as you launch” the new version, according to its developers. Syncing read and unread messages has also been improved, so you shouldn’t see issues with duplicate notifications on different devices.

On iPad redesign is also in the works, but a timeframe for that release has not been given yet.

We’ll let you know when Skype 5.0 for iPhone launches in the App Store next week.

Glad to know this, but Skype is used more often than this entry lets on. Plenty of people use it to video chat, but more from the laptop than the mobile! I’ve worked with foreign students from all over over, and they all seem to have an inkling for Skype.

About the author

Alex Heath is a senior writer at Cult of Mac and co-host of the CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like "ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation." If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Twitter always works too.

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